Wednesday, April 27, 2011

On a recent road trip to Texas, we were looking for something to do on a Sunday morning and found that The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was open and nearby.

( If you are not old enough to know who Lady Bird Johnson is,
she was the wife of Lyndon Johnson,
who became president when John Kennedy was assassinated back in 1963.)

One of the causes that was dear to her heart was to save native wildflowers and encourage others in the country to use them as much as possible. When you see wildflowers growing along interstates, they are there mainly due to her efforts.She said "We have impressive and valid reasons for using our native plants---reasons of the soul and pocketbook".

The most famous of her native Texas wildflowers is the Bluebonnet. Normally, it would be abundant along the roadsides in Texas in April but due to the drought there this year, almost the only bluebonnets we saw were in gardens where they had gotten water by means other than rain.

If you are ever near Austin, Texas, and you like gardening,

you should take a trip to The Wildflower Center.

They have wonderful examples of how to use native

wildflowers in fields and in gardens large and small.

The Display Garden section at the center shows that "whatever style garden you like, native plants provide the beauty, form, and texture you desire".

The center teaches that native plants don't require as much water as conventional garden plants and thus saves our water resources. ﻿Here are some examples from that area:

In very arid areas, a garden area could use texture and visual interest with sand and (something that looks like) sea glass (but I really don't know what it is exactly).

This was a mix a low-growing ground covers:

The center also had water features:

Even though I like to look at gardens, I don't do much gardening myself, so probably my favorite thing at the Wildflower Center was the beautiful use of native resources of logs and stone work there in the colonnades, buildings, and other structures.﻿

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When I was growing up being called a "miss copy cat" had negative implications but now-a-days that label isn't such a bad thing. I copy ideas that see in other blogs, magazines, Pinterest and real life for my home, entertaining,
parties, weddings, or just for fun. Sometimes I have an original idea too. I take photos while making my "kopy kat" projects and share the process with you so you can be a copy cat too. {Read more here}